Akognon Earns Second BWC PofW Award

Dec 15, 2008

Dec. 15, 2008

Irvine, Calif. -
Cal State Fullerton senior guard Josh Akognon's second 41-point game of the season carried him to his second Big West Conference player of the week award, which was announced today by the conference office.

Akognon averaged 29.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists as the Titans went 1-1. Runnersup in the voting were Pacific forward Bryan DeLuc, who made 9 of 13 shots and averaged 13 points and 3.5 rebounds to lead the Tigers to a pair of wins, and Cal State Northridge forward Willie Gallick, who went 10-for-14 from the floor and scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a lopsided win over Denver.

Akognon bounced back from one of his poorer shooting games of the season -- 18 points in a loss at Montana State on Tuesday night -- to fuel a one-sided 87-64 home victory Saturday night over Cal State Bakersfield. In the latter game he hit all four of his first-half 3-point field goal attempts and 6 of 9 shots overall on his way to 21 points. The Roadrunners totaled only 25 points as they found themselves trailing, 52-25.

Akognon finished the night 10-for-20 overall, 6-of-11 from the 3-point arc and 15-for-15 from the free-throw line to break the school single-game percentage record. The late Kevin Henderson made 14-of-14 free throws against Texas Tech on Dec. 5, 1985. Akognon shared the team lead with 7 rebounds and added 4 assists.

Both of Akognon's 41-point explosions have come after his only less-than-20-point games. He had only 11 points vs. Texas State before fouling out early in the season opener but came back for an arena record on Nov. 16 at Hawaii. His school record string of eight consecutive games with 20 or more points ended in a 6-for-23 shooting night in Bozeman.

Akognon currently is fourth in the nation in scoring at 25.5 points a game. Davidson's Stephen Curry is averaging 31.9 and Chicago State's David Holston and North Dakota State's Ben Woodside are both at 26.9.

The Titans are off this week for final exams but host Montana State in a quick rematch on Monday night.